Yesterday evening Beaverton Police arrested a man who drove his car into someone on a bike, attempted to flee, and then aggressively confronted the rider. The altercation happened in the parking lot of Cedar Hills Crossing Mall on SW Hall Blvd.

According to a Beaverton PD statement, 22-year old Portland resident Derrik Fleming was in the mall parking lot and maneuvered his bike around a stopped car to make a left turn. When he did that, Christopher Williams, a 30-year-old resident of Beaverton, sped up from behind, came around the stopped car in the opposite lane and then slammed on his brakes right in front of Fleming.

“This action caused Fleming to crash,” reads the statement, “into the right rear of Williams’s vehicle. This crash caused Fleming to go over his handle bars and onto the asphalt of the parking lot.” After the collision, Williams drove away and according to the Beaverton PD, Fleming “flipped him the bird as he drove off.” Fleming, the bike rider, then gave chase and the two ended up confronting each other in the parking lot. The police say Williams was acting “in an aggressive way” and that he pushed Fleming while he was still astride his bike. Williams then, “attempted several time to punch him, but did not make contact.”

Witnesses saw the whole episode unfold and were yelling for Williams to stop. Fleming sustained minor injuries. Williams was arrested for hit and run property damage and disorderly conduct and was lodged at the Washington County Jail.

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Comments

RolApril 5, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Just a style note: For conciseness in the headline, you don’t need to mention both “Beaverton” and “parking lot.” They’re synonyms.

So let me get this straight: You have a terrific sense of humor, which is why your comments are grim and humorless. Bike riders have their chamois in a bunch, which is why you attempt to be retaliatory. My comment is absurd, which is why you mention fixie riders (even more irrelevant than my comment, and I raised the bar pretty high). And finally my comment is dumb, which is why you so deftly address the underlying assertion that Beaverton, through intentional policies they’ll be the first to defend, devotes a high percentage of its land area to the parking of vehicles, especially in high-visibility places (thereby increasing the general perception thereof), and this includes: – actual parking lots – all the various car dealerships – some fraction of the land devoted to streets (for on-street parking) – some fraction, say 1/12, of the land devoted to freeways, which for about 2 hrs/day or 1/12 of the day are full of vehicles either stopped or moving slowly enough to be considered parked for the purposes of humor.

I wonder a lot when biking in traffic about what it must feel like to be all cooped up in those hot little (or sometimes not so little) boxes, waiting and waiting for the line of cars ahead to start moving, while I zip past.

How unfair it all (could) seem, when the promise of the open road, the freedom, the sexiness of the car has so clearly been snatched by those on bikes. And to add insult to injury, now gas prices are climbing again, and along come these free spirits who probably have no insurance premiums, car payments, gas bills, or repair charges, and they’re able to get to their destination with such seeming effortlessness ~ catch up with me at every light!

Alas there is not a “00” in front of our drivers license numbers so no matter anger, frustration and resentment no driver has a “licence to kill”.

Just as lack of visual acuity or other medical conditions commonly disqualify a perhon from legally driving so too should the mental condition of a person who is “incapable” of holding their temper and acting civilly when driving. This would have affected me in my nefarious youth so I can say with some authority that 16 years old is not enough of a standard for “good driver”.

I think about this often, 9watts. I feel sorry a bit for drivers, but not when I remember the injustices we endure every day and night out there. I do try to be sensitive when possible though. This is (in part) why I obey stop signs and use signals etc. Extending an olive branch by trying not to fly around totally scott free.

He passed a car stopped arbitrarily in a lane, as in a “standing” car? Or was the car stopped at a stop sign and he went around it? Just trying to understand why Williams could have any beef whatsoever with the cyclist.

The way it reads to me is that the car Fleming went around was occupied but apparently not moving fast enough for him. I bet Williams was peeved because Fleming made the maneuver and Williams felt it was lawless and worthy of anger.

I’m sure he just urgently wanted to get close enough to speak to Fleming out of concern for his safety! Sometimes drivers (the sole carriers of knowledge as to traffic law and How Things Are Done), will generously offer a lesson.

Actually, if not for the sudden stop, I might conclude Williams was fed up waiting for the same car Fleming was fed up waiting for. I assume the police did the police work of ruling that out. If there was nothing whatsoever to stop for right there, then yeah.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) The way it reads to me is that the car Fleming went around was occupied but apparently not moving fast enough for him. I bet Williams was peeved because Fleming made the maneuver and Williams felt it was lawless and worthy of anger.

So he passed on the right I assume since the car was turning left then (as quoted in the article). Can’t possibly see what Williams had any justifiable beef over. But I do see all kinds of people pass me on the left when the road is clear and then try to squeeze me between them and a parked car (on purpose) when traffic backs them up.

To paraphrase what I learned from one of Ray Thomas’s legal workshops: The law that allows the cars to pass you on the left (the one about sharing the lane) is the same law that allows you to pass on the right.

That’s not what it sounded like to me, it seemed like the car was stopped and Fleming went around on the left so he could make a left turn. There isn’t really any indication of what the car driver was doing other than not moving.

My armchair guess as to what happened: – Fleming approaches stopped car, with Williams right behind him – Fleming and Williams both get the idea to pass the stopped car – Williams possibly begins to pass, thinking he will go around both Fleming and the stopped car – At the same time, Fleming begins his passing maneuver, appearing to cut off Williams, who had already started going around both vehicles. – The inadvertent cutting-off of Williams inspired his move to aggressively pass, then cut off Fleming in a “see how YOU like it”, dose-of-your-own-medicine kind of “lesson”. – Williams’ sudden stop may not have been intended to actually cause Fleming to crash, but that’s the risk one takes driving around in a semi-guided missile–you can’t always be sure what kind of damage you might cause being careless/reckless.

The article is misleading, I actually passed a car making a right turn into the WinCo parking lot, off of the entrance between Jenkins and Hall on Cedar Hills. The car had not finished completing the turn, and was not moving. So, while staying in the lane, I signaled, and I went around the car. While doing this Williams who was behind me, apparently also trying to attempt this maneuver, laid on his horn, I looked back to see him chirp his tires while swerving into the oncoming lane. Once he passed the turning car, and me he cut back into the lane, feet in front of me. I was, more or less wedged between the island, without having enough time to react to his actions, contact was made.

Your description seems to be saying you and Williams were actually on Cedar Hills Blvd, at a signaled intersection, turning from it into the main entrance road, at which point it ‘T’s with the lane nearest the mall. Landscape islands run the length of the entrance road to isolate the parking areas and prevent cut-throughs.

Traffic entering via this entrance road regularly get backed up on it, waiting for breaks in the traffic on the lane nearest the mall. Also, mid-block on the entrance road, there’s an access to the parking area directly in front of Winco that often backs traffic up before it even gets to the lane adjoining the mall.

So it is that, people backed up on the entrance lane get the idea that they might somehow save a little time by going around the people backed up in their cars, waiting to turn mid-block into Winco’s parking area.

The cross-street is Fairfield St. Well signaled intersection. I use it frequently to cross CHB into the mall complex. As I said earlier, traffic regularly backs up on the entrance road due to people trying to turn either into the mid-block access to Winco’s parking area, and to the lane next the mall. Inching along just to get to the parking area can be very aggravating.

Once people driving finally get from the entrance road to the parking area, they then often have to inch along scouting for a place to park the car…more aggravation. It’s just not worth it to me to go over there during business hours and have to contend with the traffic backups. Evenings aren’t bad, except for holidays and weekends.

This occurred in a Parking Lot. Traffic rules are a bit more flexible – at least the way both cyclists and drivers behave in parking lots. Stopping and blocking the “road way” is common and going around if you can is pretty acceptable.

Aggressively cutting people off for normal parking lot tactics is way beyond acceptable.

Living in Beaverton, I know this parking lot fairly well…it’s very big with a bunch of complicated turns, entrances and exits and through travel lanes. Not enough information in the story about where in the parking lot the tempestuous exchange took place that would allow a very good understanding of how this happened. A look at a Google aerial might give some idea.

It could of been on the main north-south drag extending from Hall Blvd to Jenkins, or Hall between Cedar Hills Blvd and Hocken, or some place else in the parking lot. Driving through this parking lot mid-day is not for anyone with an edgy temperament. Stop and go traffic is the rule rather than the exception. Most people seem to handle it in stride though. This Christopher Williams dude might have been having a bad day before ever laying eyes on Fleming. People ride fixies out here too.

Lots of levity directed to poor ol’ Beaverton today. That’s o.k., it’s well deserved. This town does have too much surface parking area. Surface parking lots seem to have unofficial god-like status out in the Beav: ‘Pave it and you don’t have to mow it, y’know? Plus, then it’s a good place to park a car!’.

I’m glad Derrik Fleming didn’t get banged up too bad on his visit from Portland to the asphalt outback of Beaverton.

Just for the record, my “box” has A/C and so it isn’t hot at all. It also has a stereo and cup holders, and still has room for four supermodels and it can carry my bike on the back. Not bad for a “little” (i.e. sub-compact) car.

It may be a cage, but it’s a gilded cage, controlled by me, and I can get out whenever I want, and so it’s not so bad for times when I’m not on my bike.

Oh, the horror of actually getting WET. “I’m melting!!!” Yes, there are benefits to owning a car, and most cyclists I know own cars and can tell you why they own them. But riding in the rain is actually kind of fun, if you can get past a stick-up-the-rear middle-of-the-roadish attitude about life.

I love my car. I also love super models. However, I am not one who thinks the two will ever meet. Also Tom Brady probably can’t even spell sub-compact so I think your fantasy should also include hood mounted laser cannons and a hamburger producing gear shift. C’mon man, go for the gold when in make believe land.

You might call me a “cyclist”, and I own three cars (two that run, one that just takes up space in the garage). Sure there are advantages to owning a car, but when I am driving around spewing noise and pollution and contributing my share of death to the world, I am well aware of what I am doing, and I attempt to do it as little as possible.

E.B.,you have pointed out very reasonable thoughts, but to counter the idea of delaying autos, multi-modal options facilitate a rapid movement of autos by taking up less space on the road, as I am sure you understand.

Oh, yeah. I’m not even counting the time motorists save by not being backed up behind x number of other cars that aren’t there because their potential drivers rode bikes or took transit instead. I was just highlighting what drivers tend to see: cyclist is in front of me making me go 15 instead of 30 for three blocks. My point was to show that even the “negatives” cyclists cause are literally nothing when placed in contrast to the negative “externalities” of personal motor transport.

Last year I was accosted by a guy in a light-colored Accord for taking the lane and not being off to the right side at a red light in Beaverton (s’bound Watson at Farmington). I didn’t get a great look at the guy, but IIRC he looked quite a bit like Williams. If my guy was your guy, then he’s definitely got some anger problems WRT cyclists.

A little human compassion on both ‘sides’ would go along way here. Families are just following what the MSM tells them to do…buy a car, work hard, buy a house. That dream is failing and leading to alot of free floating anger. Despite honest hard wrok, it’s not working out. Right and wrong certainly exist, but if you understand, then the concept of ‘blame’ evaporates.

So– Derrick signaled and was passing a car that was turning right but unable to complete the right turn and was stopped. Williams, behind Derrick, was attempting the same move but maybe didn’t see Derrick signaling prior to attempting the pass and so thought Derrick was cutting him off.

Disproportionate response occurs, Derrick impacts the car, Williams drives away, Derrick flips him off and gives chase. More disproportionate response from Williams, who then tries to start a fight; I’m guessing none of the punches land because a) Derrick is evading and/or b) Williams doesn’t know how to throw a punch. To the witnesses, it looks like the guy with the car is attempting to beat up the guy with the bike.

This bikeportland story reports: “…Williams was arrested for hit and run property damage and disorderly conduct and was lodged at the Washington County Jail.”

A little break from driving might do Mr Williams some good…give him some time to consider whether its really worth it to let the stress get to him. A brief web search didn’t show that Williams could officially lose his driving privilege for his actions in this collision, but the possibility exists for fairly long jail time and fines. Basically, up to one to five years in jail or prison, and up to $6250-$125,000 in fines.

Here’s a link to a Portland area law firms’ informational page on ‘Hit and Run':

Except that Williams with his car apparently didn’t actually seek to strike Fleming on his bike, so that charge probably wouldn’t fit. Stress and personal issues may be the big factor having led Williams to react the way he did. If it can be figured out what’s going on with him, and steps put in place to take care of whatever problem that might be, this would be an accomplishment.

O.k.,.. The point you make is valid, and think people will see what you are constantly trying to provoke, the rub in this case is that the action by the alleged aggressor was premeditated. In so much from what I read here, Mr Williams brake checked the Mr.Fleming. That was not an accident, and therefore makes his escape a crime. Case studies show that people who accidentally cause horrible damage or harm to others do flee the scene often in some kind of shock, or fear. That is totally different and IMO and voids your argument. YES IT IS TRUE, cyclists are mortal and are guilty at times. We get it. This time is not one it seems.

The bias presented by many here needs to be called out as much as the bias presented in other media in Portland.

To often the view that all drivers is evil pervades the comments section.

And there’s no such thing as an accident, the cyclist in question made a conscious decision to run a red light. He made a conscious decision to travel at speeds beyond his ability to control that speed. And those decisions resulted in the death of another human being.